No excuse for excuses

I ran into an area coach the other day who really turned my head with his multitude of excuses for why his high school athletic teams could never be successful.
I can’t buy into such thinking at any level.
The first step in building any program into a successful one is to eliminate all excuses. I heard excuses such as, “Our kids are too rich,” and, “We don’t have parental support.” And one that really lights a fire under me is “We don’t have support from the administration.”
In a pamphlet entitled “Turning around Athletic Programs,” Bruce E. Brown describes stages and challenges for turning around an excuse-filled athletic program.
Stage 1 – A program, first and foremost, must have a vision and make a decision on basic points to be agreed upon by everyone in the program.
Stage 2 – Everyone in the program must come together to put the vision into action. All members of the program must fully understand their individual roles, must be consistent and must have team covenants and values.
Stage 3 – Everyone must commit (are you in or are you out?).
Stages 4 and 5 – Competition and championship. During both of these stages, leaders need to step up. Keep your eyes open for someone who possesses the loyalty and courage to lead the program through ups and downs and someone with mental toughness to withstand snipers.
Success begins with small victories. Relate all successes back to commitment to your covenants and team preparation and reward your core covenants.
I am of the opinion that excuse makers will never experience success, while a positive attitude will bring success to any program.
n Sports editor’s Karl Zinke’s column about expectations was wonderful. I have two additional statistics to add. According to a study reported in the May 2008 edition of High School Today, out of 10,000 high school seniors only three are eventually drafted by the NBA. That equates to 0.03 percent. For every 200 seniors who play basketball, only one will eventually be drafted by a major league team (0.45 percent).
n Greg Norman makes old guys throughout the athletic community realize there is hope after all. The British Open was more a test of survival rather than a test of golf.
n It seems like every year the media trumps up some big controversy for the All-Star Game. Those guys need to relax.
n My quote of the week is from George Washington Carver: “Ninety-nine percent of failures come from people who have the habit of making excuses.”